Morton's Demon

Post of the Month: February 2002

Maxwell suggested a famous demon which could violate the laws
of thermodynamics. The demon, sitting between two rooms, controls a gate
between the two rooms. When the demon sees a speedy molecule coming his way
(from room A), he opens the gate and lets the speedy molecule leave the room
and when he sees a slow molecule coming at the gate (from room A), he holds
it closed. Oppositely, when he sees a speedy molecule coming at the gate
from room B he closes the gate but when he sees a slow molecule from room B
coming toward the gate he opens it. In this way, the demon segregates the
fast moving molecules into one room from the slow ones in the other. Since
temperature of a gas is related to the velocity of the molecules, the demon
would increase the temperature of room B and cool room A without any
expenditure of energy. And since a temperature difference can be used to
create useful work, the demon would create a perpetual motion machine.

Maxwell's demon was shown to fail by Szilard who showed that the
demon needed to use light (and expend energy) to determine a fast molecule
from a slow one. This energy spent to collect information meant that the
demon couldn't violate the 2nd law.

The reason I mention this is because I realized tonight that the
YECs have a demon of their own. In a conversation with a YEC, I mentioned
certain problems which he needed to address. Instead of addressing them, he
claimed that he didn't have time to do the research. With other YECs, I have
found that this is not the case (like with sds@mp3.com who refused my offer
to discuss the existence of the geologic column by stating "It's on my short
list of topics to pursue here. It's not up next, but
perhaps before too long." Message-ID: a3bv4t$v2m$1@slb1.atl.mindspring.net )
And with other YECs, they claim lack of expertise to evaluate the argument
and thus won't make a judgment about the validity of the criticism. Still
other YECs refuse to read things that might disagree with them.

Thus was born the realization that there is a dangerous demon on the
loose. When I was a YEC, I had a demon that did similar things for me that
Maxwell's demon did for thermodynamics. Morton's demon was a demon who sat
at the gate of my sensory input apparatus and if and when he saw supportive
evidence coming in, he opened the gate. But if he saw contradictory data
coming in, he closed the gate. In this way, the demon allowed me to believe
that I was right and to avoid any nasty contradictory data. Fortunately, I
eventually realized that the demon was there and began to open the gate when
he wasn't looking.

However, my conversations have made me aware that each YEC is a victim of my
demon. Morton's demon makes it possible for a person to have his own set of
private facts which others are not privy to, allowing the YEC to construct
a theory which is perfectly supported by the facts which the demon lets
through the gate. And since these are the only facts known to the victim, he
feels in his heart that he has explained everything. Indeed, the demon
makes people feel morally superior and more knowledgeable than others.

The demon makes its victim feel very comfortable as there is no
contradictory data in view. The demon is better than a set of rose colored
glasses. The demon's victim does not understand why everyone else doesn't
fall down and accept the victim's views. After all, the world is thought to
be as the victim sees it and the demon doesn't let through the gate the
knowledge that others don't see the same thing. Because of this, the victim
assumes that everyone else is biased, or holding those views so that they
can keep their job, or, in an even more devious attack by my demon, they
think that their opponents are actually demon possessed themselves or sons of Satan.
This is a devious demon!

He can make people think that the geologic column doesn't exist even
if one posts examples on the internet. He can make people believe that
radioactive dating doesn't work even if you show them comparisons of tree
rings compared to radiocarbon dating. He can make people ignore layer after
layer of footprints and burrows in the geologic column (see
http://www.flash.net/~mortongr/burrow.jpg ) and believe that burrowing can
occur and animals can walk around unimpeded during a global flood. He can
make people think that the sun is shrinking, that the stars are all within
6000 light years of the earth, or that God made pictures in that light of
events which never happened. He can make people believe that fossils aren't
the remains of animals and are 'petrifactions' placed there by the devil. He
can make people ignore modern measurements of continental motion, stellar
formation, or biological speciation. He can make people believe that 75,000
feet of sediment over an area 200 by 100 miles can be deposited in a few
hundred years, and he can make people believe that Noah trained animals to
poop into buckets on command. He can make people deny transitional forms
which have traits clearly halfway between two groups. This is a dangerous
demon.

But one thing that those unaffected by this demon don't understand
is that the victim is not lying about the data. The demon only lets his
victim see what the demon wants him to see and thus the victim, whose
sensory input is horribly askew, feels that he is totally honest about the
data. The victim doesn't know that he is the host to an evil parasite and
indeed many of their opponents don't know that as well since the demon is
smart enough to be too small to be seen.

But unlike Maxwell's demon, Morton's demon doesn't expend any
energy--he gets his victim to expend it for him. He can get his victim to
expend massive amounts of intellectual energy figuring out how to convince
the world that they are wrong. The victim will spend hours reading
supportive books or searching through scientific literature noting only
those portions which support the YEC position. And the victim will spend
lots of energy trying to convince others to come see things the way they do.
Thus, the demon gets its victims to spend energy to help it spread the
infection.

The demon drives his victim to go to YEC conventions so that the
demon can rest. By making his victim be with those equally afflicted, the
demon doesn't have to shut the door or even be watchful. This is because it
allows the demon time to rest when all that is in the room is supportive
data. For the victim, there is comfort in numbers even if they are few.

Those who try to help the poor victims escape the ravages of Morton's demon wear themselves out typing e-mails explaining data and facts which
never get through the demon's gate. After years of weariness, the
philanthropic individual dies of fatigue. This is oh so devilish a
situation!